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[0:00] This morning, if you have your Bibles, which I hope you do, I'd ask you to turn to the book of Isaiah. It's where we're going to be this morning. The book of Isaiah. And that's the only place we're going to be this morning.

[0:10] There's nowhere else we're going to go, so take the time and find it because we're staying put in Isaiah 49 this morning. Isaiah 49, beginning in verse 7.

[0:25] Isaiah 49, beginning in verse 7. And I know you just sat down, but I'm going to ask you to stand as we read God's Word. You know, in the Old Testament, there's a couple places where they stood up all day long while God's Word was read.

[0:40] So I guess a little up and down isn't going to hurt us this morning. Isaiah 49, beginning in verse 7. And this is what God's Word shares. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers.

[1:00] Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel. And He shall choose you. Thus says the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you.

[1:16] And I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages.

[1:27] That you may say to the prisoners, go forth. To them that are in darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them.

[1:42] For He that has mercy on them shall lead them. Even by the springs of water shall He guide them. And I will make all My mountains away, and My highways shall be exalted.

[1:54] Behold, these shall come from far and low, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinem. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains.

[2:06] For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me, and My Lord has forgotten me.

[2:16] Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you.

[2:28] Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of My hands. Your walls are continually before Me. Let's bow our heads as we pray. Lord God, thank You again for this day that You've given us.

[2:40] Thank You for this time we have to spend together as Your family, that we can praise You together, that we can pray together, and now that we can read Your Word together. And I just pray, Lord, that You'd speak to each one of our hearts.

[2:50] Let Your Holy Spirit move in this place. I pray that our minds and hearts are open to Him. And I just pray, Lord, that You would just teach us what You want us to know this morning. Change us into the people You want us to be.

[3:03] So thank You again for all these things, Lord. And it's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. You can be seated this morning. You know, as we look at this chapter in Isaiah chapter 49, as you read through Isaiah, there's a lot in the book of Isaiah.

[3:21] There is a lot of prophecy. There is a lot of warning to the people what happens when they choose to fall away from God, when they don't follow God's ways. But as we look here in Isaiah chapter 49, the verses that we read, a lot of it is prophecy of something that was going to happen hundreds of years later.

[3:40] Can you imagine that? I mean, to me, sometimes I forget how amazing that really is, to have things written here in Isaiah that would come to pass hundreds of years after that.

[3:52] I mean, for you and I, we don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow, do we? I mean, we may have an idea. We may have plans of things we think are going to happen tomorrow, but do we know for sure that's the way it's going to unfold?

[4:04] No. We don't know. We don't know what's going to happen this afternoon for sure. We may have plans, but our plans don't always happen, do they? Do they? All right.

[4:15] I just want to make sure yours are like mine. We make plans, but they get interrupted at times. But you know, when God makes a plan, do you know the one thing you can be sure of? It's going to happen.

[4:26] Not just a plan for today or tomorrow, but a plan hundreds of years into the future. And as we read these few verses in Isaiah 49, it's talking about Jesus coming.

[4:37] It's also talking about the nation of Israel, but if you look at it, it's talking specifically about Jesus. Look in verse 7 that we read. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One.

[4:49] Who do you think the Holy One is that He's talking about there? Jesus, His Son. Because look what it says, the Holy One to whom man despises.

[5:01] When Jesus came and spent time here on this earth, did everyone welcome Him here? Were they glad that He spent time here, the Son of God, come to this earth? What did many people do?

[5:12] Even the religious leaders of the day, what did they do? I think the word fits that it uses. Despises is what the King James says. He was despised by man to the point that they sought to kill Him.

[5:26] That's being despised, isn't it? It's talking about Jesus whom man despises to Him whom the nations abhor. That means that there are many that worked against Christ, and there are many that are still working against Christ.

[5:41] That's true in our world today, isn't it? That hasn't changed. To the servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel.

[5:58] You know, those verses are talking about the fact that Jesus would come, that He wouldn't be accepted by all, but that God would send Him to us. You know, we've spent some time already sharing praises, but do we constantly remember that that is the greatest thing we have to praise God for?

[6:14] That God was willing to send His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us. Folks, it doesn't get any better than that. That's like the top of our praise list, or at least it should be. Everything else comes after that, because that gives us everlasting life.

[6:26] That gives us forgiveness. But that's what these verses are talking about. Jesus coming. But you know, the very end of verse 7, it's talking about Jesus, but you know who else it's talking about?

[6:39] The nation of Israel. And you know who else it's talking about? Us. That's an amazing thing about God's Word. There's so much amazing about it. But it can talk to multiple things at once.

[6:51] It's talking about Jesus because God chose His Son to come to this earth, didn't He? God chose Him to come and to die for our sins. God also chose the Israelite people, didn't He?

[7:04] It says over and over again in God's Word that they were, and we call them, God's chosen people. What does it mean to be chosen? What does that mean?

[7:14] It's not complicated. What does it mean to be chosen? To be favored, to be picked, to say you. That's what it means to be chosen, isn't it? It says, and He shall choose you.

[7:33] The other thing, that isn't just talking about Jesus. That isn't just talking about the Israelites. It's talking about us. That God chooses us.

[7:45] Isn't that an amazing thing? To know that you've been chosen by God? That God says, I want to choose you to follow Me. I want to choose you to serve Me.

[7:56] I choose you. I sent My Son to this earth for you in particular. I choose you. And that's the thing. Who has God chosen? All of us. The question is, who responds to that choosing?

[8:10] You know, it's like when you're on the playground when you're little and they're picking teams. Right? We all remember those days, right? And there's two people that are assigned to choose a team, and they, I want them, and I want them, and I want that guy.

[8:24] But when they choose that person, do you know what that person has to do? What do they have to do? They have to accept. They have to come forward and say, okay, I'm willing to be on your team.

[8:37] They have the right to say, nope, I'm not playing. I don't want to be on your team. And that's the thing that we have to understand that I believe with all my heart. God chooses all of us. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world.

[8:52] That means who? All of it. Everybody. God loves everybody. We are challenged with that sometimes, right? Right? Admit it.

[9:03] We may think, I love that person and that person. That one, eh. That's a little harder. God loves everybody. And He calls everybody to Him. He sent His Son for everybody.

[9:14] God says, I choose you. But it's up to us whether we respond to that. But know it is an amazing thing to know that you are important enough that God chooses you. That is special.

[9:26] He says, and He shall choose you. And do you know what He does for those He chooses and who respond? The next verse talks about it. There are some amazing things God does for us in verse 8.

[9:40] Thus says the Lord, in acceptable time I have heard you. What does it mean to hear somebody? To listen.

[9:51] So if this is in part about us, what is God saying? He hears us. Now He's talking about people that have responded. People that are following Him. It's talking about believers now here.

[10:02] Those that have accepted that choosing. God hears us. Do you ever get frustrated when people aren't listening to you? Does that ever happen in your life? Every day.

[10:18] Tammy, are you ever frustrated when I'm not listening to you? Now I always listen to her. Let's get this straight. I just don't always hear her. I guess a selective hearing.

[10:30] And it is frustrating when we're talking and we realize at some point the person we're talking to is not listening. That is a frustrating experience. But here's the thing that God says when we speak to Him.

[10:41] When we cry out to God. What does it say? I have heard you. That God hears us. We just spent some time, not that long ago, sharing all of our prayer requests.

[10:52] And then what did we do? Spent time praying, didn't we? Why did we do that? Just because we had 10 minutes or so to fill up in our worship service. Why did we spend that time praying?

[11:04] Giving it to Him. For Him to hear it. Because we trust that as we pray, that God is a God that hears our prayers.

[11:16] If you thought God wasn't listening, would you bother spending the time talking to Him? If you knew somebody wasn't going to be listening to you, would you bother talking to them? When we pray, God says, I will hear you.

[11:30] I have heard you. And look, that's one thing God does for those that He chooses. And in a day of salvation have I helped you. God doesn't just hear.

[11:42] What does He do after that? He helps. Now, the greatest help He gives us is already mentioned there. It says salvation, right? That is the greatest help He gives us because we all needed that.

[11:54] If you haven't accepted Jesus, I hope you understand that is something you need. If you already accepted Jesus, I hope you understand you needed someone to save you. You know, in our lives, when we physically need saving, we understand that pretty clearly, don't we?

[12:10] Don't we? I only remember, I love swimming. But I remember one time in my life, we were at the Continental Pool. They used to have a swimming pool, if you didn't know that.

[12:21] And we were at the pool, and I was little, and for whatever reason, I thought I was big enough to go down the slide. I apparently hadn't been taught to swim yet. And I went down the slide, and I remember thinking, oh, I can't touch.

[12:36] That was a problem. Do you think I realized at that point in time, I need help? Fortunately, the lifeguard also realized that and jumped in and did whatever lifeguards do, and it ended up fine.

[12:52] But when we're in a situation like that, do we recognize we need help? Yes, it's evident. There's no getting around it. We understand, I need help. Hopefully, we realize that spiritually, that we understand how desperately we need help, because guess what?

[13:08] We are sinners. We sin. Don't we? We don't like to admit that, do we? Let me face it.

[13:18] Do we like to admit that we sin? No. So go ahead and admit it. Say, I sin. I sin. Are you in danger? And you know what? That's a good thing to admit that in church.

[13:30] The Bible says, confess your faults one to another. We stink at that. We are not good at admitting that we're far from perfect, that we fall short. The Bible says we all fall short.

[13:42] But that helps us recognize how much we need that salvation. God helps us by giving that salvation, but God helps us even far beyond that, doesn't He? Does God give us strength in our lives?

[13:53] Could God give us a peace that passes all understanding? Can God give us direction in life? All those things are God helping us, aren't they? Can God bring people into our lives to help us?

[14:06] All that's God helping us. Are you grateful for that? So He hears us. He helps us. What does it say after that? In the day of salvation have I helped you, and I will preserve you.

[14:24] What does it mean to be preserved? I mean, what do you preserve in life? What are some things you preserve? What's that? Honey. You preserve honey.

[14:34] What other foods do you preserve? Jelly. So why do you preserve food like that? So you can eat it later, so it doesn't spoil, so it doesn't go bad.

[14:45] You want to keep it in that original state, right? Now, when it says God preserves us, that doesn't mean like physically we don't change, because we do, don't we? We talked about change last week.

[14:57] So what does it mean when it says that God preserves us? Well, you know, when we preserve food, we preserve it so it remains good. We put a protective covering over it.

[15:09] We shut other things, the air or whatever, from getting into it to spoil it. It's protected. Do you believe that God protects us? That He watches over us?

[15:21] That's the God we serve. Isn't that an amazing thing? I mean, I hope we're realizing these are all benefits God gives us. And then finally after that, and gives you for a covenant of the people.

[15:33] Now, as He's talking about Jesus, He's telling Jesus, You're going to be this covenant that I have, the new covenant with the people. But it's also saying that God gave Jesus for us. He gave us that promise when He sent Jesus Christ.

[15:46] These are all things God does for us. Isn't that an amazing thing? And why do we need reminded of that? Because we are sinful and because we are forgetful.

[16:03] All these are blessings that it's talking about, right? And we're not going to go... It goes down in these next few verses. It talks about a lot of other blessings. In verse 9, you say to the prisoners, go forth.

[16:15] That means He gives us freedom. That's another blessing, isn't it? Right? To them that are in darkness, show yourselves. That means He gives them light. Isn't that a good thing? More blessings that God gives them.

[16:28] They shall feed in the ways and their pastures shall be in high places. So He nourishes us. Is that a good thing? Yep. They shall not hunger nor thirst. In verse 10, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them.

[16:41] He will have mercy on them and He shall lead them by the springs of water and shall guide them. God leads and guides us. Are those all good things? Yeah. And we could spend a morning, we could spend a whole sermon talking about each one of those things, couldn't we?

[16:56] Couldn't we? All these are good things that God does for us. Because He chooses us. Because He chooses us and He says, I love you and I want the best for you.

[17:07] But even in the midst of all these blessings, our response should be in verse 13. Sing, O heavens and be joyful, O earth.

[17:18] Break forth into singing, O mountains. For the Lord has comforted His people and will have mercy upon His afflicted. So what should our response be to all these things? Joyful.

[17:29] Joyful. Joyful. It says, sing, O heavens and be joyful, O earth. Break forth into singing. That's what we should be doing. How often do you break forth into singing?

[17:43] Not very much. You know, I read that and I always, I think of musicals. They don't always make a lot of sense. Somebody's just going about their life and all of a sudden they start singing. I don't always get that.

[17:55] But it says here that should be our lives. When it says break forth into singing, I don't think it means our life should be a musical. But when we start singing, what is it talking about?

[18:08] There should be such joy in our lives. As we realize everything that God has given us, there should be such joy that it just comes out of us. I mean, I know there's times in my life I get so excited I feel like singing or whatever.

[18:21] But it's talking just about joy that should come out of us. That people should see. That's what should be coming out of our lives. But is that always the case? You don't always break forth into singing?

[18:36] That doesn't always describe your life? You see, I think sometimes our lives are more described by the next verse, verse 14. But, starts with but.

[18:48] So here we have a change in direction. But Zion, or God's people, His chosen, which can include us. But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me. And my Lord has done what?

[19:04] Forgotten me. All these blessings that God gives us, and this is reminding us of that. But even knowing all that, sometimes in our lives, guess what?

[19:15] We can forget that. Sometimes in our lives, all the things can pile up. All the challenges, all the struggles, all the hurts can pile up to the point where we feel like this verse more than we do like breaking forth into singing.

[19:31] Instead of breaking forth into singing, we feel like we are forsaken. We feel like instead that we've just kind of been forgotten about. Do you ever feel that way? You know, we talked earlier about forgetting.

[19:44] And guess what? We can be forgetful. And sometimes we, as people, feel like we have been forgotten. Somehow the Lord forgot about us because things aren't going the way we want them to in our lives.

[19:57] Do things in your life always go the way you want them to? Let me ask you that. We know the reality is no, they don't always go the way we want. We have to be careful that when that happens, that we don't think God has forgotten about us.

[20:11] Because look what it says after this. It gives us an example in verse 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?

[20:26] Talking about Mother's Day today, it's talking about a mother here. It says, can she forget about her infant and just forget to feed them? Does that happen? No. Why?

[20:37] Or at least it shouldn't happen. He says, can this happen? And then he says, yay, they may forget. Okay. First of all, the love of a mother is an amazing thing, isn't it?

[20:49] I mean, we all understand that in our lives, for the most part, nobody loves us like our mom. Amen. Amen. Amen. The love of a mother, and that's why it uses a mother as an example.

[21:03] No, they're not going to forget about their child. When they have that child, at least most of the time, the way things should work, that child becomes their everything. They put the needs of that child in front of everything else, don't they?

[21:14] And that's the way it's supposed to be. So thank you, mothers, because many of you have done that for your entire lives, and you need to be commended for that. But also, we have to understand, mothers aren't perfect, are they?

[21:32] Mothers, are you perfect? You might be close, but are you perfect? No. And God acknowledges that here.

[21:42] Look what He says. I lost my place. There, verse 15. Yea, they may forget. A mother may even forget, because mothers are not perfect.

[21:58] Mothers, you're not expected to be perfect. You won't be, and that's okay. Mothers may forget. But this next phrase, I think, is something we need to always remember as believers in our life.

[22:12] The end of verse 15. Yet will I not forget you. What is God saying?

[22:25] He will not forget you. You may feel forgotten at some point in your life. That's a feeling, and feelings can be wrong, because if you are a believer, you may feel forgotten, but that feeling is deceiving you, because God says, I will not forget you.

[22:43] No matter how many things may not be going the way you wish they were, no matter how many struggles you have, no matter how challenging life has gotten, know this. God says, if you're following me, I will not forget you.

[22:59] I don't know about you, but that makes me feel so good inside. I forget things all the time. I forget dates. I forget birthdays. I forget all kinds of things.

[23:10] I'm capable of forgetting just about anything. That's one of my amazing talents. God will not forget. I will not forget you, is what God says.

[23:25] And He follows that up in verse 16. You know, I first read that, and I thought, I'm not sure exactly what that means.

[23:38] But you know, as you study that verse, as you read some commentaries, often in that day, if there was a servant, they would engrave the name of their master on their hand to constantly remind them of who they served.

[23:52] But this is reversing that. God is saying, He's engraved the name of us on His hands so that He won't forget us. So we are constantly before Him, and He won't forget us.

[24:03] And He uses another example right after that. Your walls are continually before me. And again, that's a phrase that I thought, what in the world does that mean? But, you know, as you think about that, in biblical times, you know what all the towns and cities, or at least most of them, do you know what they had around them?

[24:20] Walls. Why? Why? For protection. And the walls were tall enough that no matter where you were at in the city, guess what? You saw the wall.

[24:32] It was always in your sight. You always knew that it was present. We were in a city once, St. something or other, when we went to see our...

[24:44] St. Mallow. We went to see our daughter when she was in France. And we were in this city, it's not like Ohio. It was a place called St. Mallow, and it was a walled city. It had a big wall all the way around it.

[24:56] And you know what? Wherever you were at in that city, guess what? You could see that wall. And you knew that wall was there. That's what God is saying. He always sees us. He knows that we're there.

[25:07] He will not forget about us. Folks, I pray today that you remember that you have a God that loves you. I know I've talked to people in life that sometimes say, I don't know that I have anybody that loves me in life.

[25:24] And that's such a sad thing. But if you're a believer, you should never say that. Because you have a God that loves you. And a God that says, I will not forget you.

[25:37] Folks, God loves you. God loves you. He uses the example of a mother because that's one of the greatest loves that we can understand. But you know what? God's love is even a step beyond that.

[25:49] Folks, know God loves you. Know He's done all these things for you. But you know what He asks us to do? He says, follow me. Follow me. When He chooses us, He wants us to respond, to follow.

[26:04] And I pray that we're doing that in our lives. If you've never accepted Jesus, I pray you do that today. If you've accepted Jesus a long time ago, make sure you're following Him. And make sure you know He says, I will not forget you.

[26:17] We may forget about God at times. Do we ever do that? When you make decisions, do you always remember to ask God what you should do? When you face a challenge, do you always remember to pray about it first?

[26:29] Or do you try to figure it out on your own first? We are very capable of forgetting to include God. We are very capable of forgetting about God in our lives.

[26:40] Guess what? God will never forget about us. I praise God that He is not forgetful like me. Let's pray. Lord God, thank You again for Your presence in this place, for Your presence in our lives, for Your Word this morning.

[26:55] We thank You for the love of mothers that You use here as an example, but we thank You that Your love is even greater. We thank You that mothers set just such a wonderful example, but we know mothers aren't perfect.

[27:07] But You are, Lord. And we thank You that You are a God that will never forget us. I pray that we would remember that each and every day of our lives, that we would carry that with us. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray.

[27:21]  Amen. Amen. My name is that have done that have done that have done that have!